Saturday, May 27, 2017

Break Journey, Change In Boarding Station And Other Rules

Journey Can Be Preponed Or Postponed

The date of journey on Confirmed/ RAC/ waitlisted tickets can be preponed or postponed in the same/ higher class or for the same destination on payment of prescribed charges. This facility can be availed only once, irrespective of whether the accommodation available is Reserved or RAC or Waitlisted.

To prepone or postpone the date of your journey, you should surrender your tickets during working hours of reservation office at least forty eight hours before the scheduled departure of the train in which originally booked. However, there may be restriction during Ist hour of advance reservation period opening.

Boarding Station Can Be Changed

To change the boarding station, you have to submit a written request to the Station Manager of the original boarding station or contact any Computerised Reservation Centre, at least 24 hours before the departure of the train. However, no refund is permissible for the unused portion of the journey. The change of station once made will be final i.e. in case a passenger has changed the boarding point, he/ she will lose all rights to board the train from the original boarding point. If found travelling without any proper authority to travel, he/ she will have to pay fare with penalty between original boarding point to changed boarding point.

Break Journey At Any Intermediate Station

If you hold a journey ticket for more than 500 km, you can break your journey once for two days at any station enroute. This facility can be availed only after travelling 500 km from the starting station. If your ticket is for more than 1000 km, you will be allowed to break your journey twice.

The day of arrival and departure must be excluded while calculating the number of eligible days for break of journey. And remember to get your ticket endorsed by the Station Manager/ Ticket Collector at the station where you intend to break your journey.

Please note this facility is not available to passengers travelling by Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/ Jan Shatabdi Express trains. This facility is not permitted short of the station up to which reservation has been done. Intention to break journey is to be advised at the time of original booking and not after obtaining reservation.

Extending Journey Beyond The Original Destination

Indian Railways allow extension of journey. This can be done by approaching the ticket checking staff either before reaching your destination or after completion of booked journey. The fare for the extended portion of the journey will be collected without the benefit of telescopic rates.

Upgrading Ticket To A Higher Class During Journey

Your reserved ticket for a lower class can be upgraded to a higher class for the same train and date, subject to availability of accommodation. The upgrading of accommodation can be done only once on collection of fresh reservation charges and the fare difference. This can also be done during the journey by approaching the Travelling Ticket Examiner.

Transferring Confirmed Ticket To Somebody Else

If you are holding a confirmed ticket and are unable to travel, your ticket can be transferred to your family members viz, father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, husband or wife. To transfer your ticket, you must submit your request at least 24 hours in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.

Tickets can also be transferred to another Government Servant travelling on duty, at least 24 hours in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.

Tickets can also be transferred to other students of recognised Educational Institutions when the Principal/ Head makes a request at least 48 hours in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.

Tickets can also be transferred to other members of marriage party, if the head of such a party makes a request at least 48 hours in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.

Tickets can also be transferred to other cadets of NCC, if the group makes a request at least 24 hours in advance of the scheduled departure of the train.

Please note that such changes can be made only once, if the request does not exceed 10% of the total number og group members.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

SPECIAL TRAINS

Indian Railways runs SPECIAL TRAINS during SUMMER, WINTER, and FESTIVAL seasons. To know about these types of trains, please CLICK HERE. The following diagram shows a part of the screen.

Screen Showing List Of Special Trains

If you bring your cursor over the train number, for example 00111, then source and destination stations are displayed. At present, there are about 224 special trains. There number varies from time to time. The screen also shows the period for which the trains will operate. You can also search a special train for a particular station by entering station's code/name.

You can also search for heritage trains, fog affected trains, re-scheduled/ cancelled and diverted trains from the same screen.

RUNNING TRAIN STATUS

The running status of a train can be found through National Train Enquiry System. If you CLICK HERE, the following screen is displayed.

To know the running status of a particular train, enter its name or number in the given box. As you write few digits of the number or alphabets of the name, a list of train will appear as a drop-down list. Select the desired train. After that, enter Journey/ Boarding/ Arrival station and Journey/ Boarding/ Arrival date in the next screen that appears. In the next screen, the running status of the train is displayed, as shown in the following image.

You can also click "View full running" to know the complete running status of the train.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Advantages Of USSD Based Train Reservation

No need of internet, computer or electricity for USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) based train ticket booking as primarily it is booking through SMS. This makes it very advantageous for rural areas where such facilities are generally not available.

Since there is no requirement of internet throughout the ticket booking process, therefore smart phones are not required and hence most entry level phones can be used as only SMS facility is required which is available on most of the phones.

Mobile phones are more affordable for common people than computers and internet.

No need to stand in long queues for booking train tickets.

The booking process is very simple as it interactive and menu guided.

No need to have debit / credit cards.

Booking process shows quick response time.

Essential Requirement:

To start with, you must be registered with IRCTC. During registration, login ID and password will be created for IRCTC. This can be done either by visiting www.irctc.co.in and creating a valid user account or by sending SMS to 139. The process is explained below.

1. Send SMS to 139 in the following format.

REG [First Name] [Last Name] [Date of Birth DDMMYY]

For example REG Rajesh Kumar 140490

2. You will receive a response SMS from 139 similar to one given below.

Thank you for registration request. Your registered Username is sc201749.

3. To receive activate this account, send one more SMS to 139 in the following format.

REGCODE [TPIN]

For example, REGCODE 5381

Please note that TPIN number is to be decided by the customer.

4. You will receive a response SMS from 139 similar to one given below.

You have been successfully registered with IRCTC. Your user id is kp285749 and password is 4893. You can use this ID for ticket booking and also for login to www.irctc.co.in. Thank you for using SMS 139 services.

Another requirement is that you should have a mobile with Airtel connection and it should be registered with IRCTC.

Booking Train Ticket Through AIRTEL MONEY

To book train ticket using Airtel Money, you should make a registration at Airtel website. For this, you may visit Airtel website. A part of the screen which follows is shown below.

As it is obvious from above screen, you have to enter your Airtel mobile number, first name, last name, email ID, date of birth and 4 digit mPIN number chosen by you for getting registered with Airtel Money. The 4 digit mPIN is nothing but a security password just like a ATM pin.

The next step is depositing money in your Airtel Money account. This can be done either through internet using Net Banking, Credit Card, Debit / Maestro Card or by visiting authorized Airtel Money outlets. To locate Airtel Money outlets, SMS OUTLET <PINCODE> to 121.

Now, you can make railway reservation. For this, dial *400# from your registered Airtel mobile. From the screen of your mobile, select "Book Tickets" and then "Rail Booking" options. Choose 'Reservation" if you don't know the trains otherwise select "Easybook" if you know the train number. Follow the remaining instructions to enter the other journey details such as starting station, destination station, passenger details, journey date and class to complete the booking.

The following points should be kept in mind while booking a ticket through Airtel Money.

Your handset should support USSD service otherwise you may not be able to use all the features of AMP.

IRCTC train reservation service can not be availed through AMP from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. It is also not available from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. for every one. However, Check PNR and Cancellation services are available 24 hours.

You can book maximum of 6 adult passengers and 2 child passengers per rail ticket on one PNR. Please note that no ticket will be issued for child passengers. The age of child passengers should be less than 5 years.

To claim refund due to certain reasons, passengers have to file TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt). The reasons are given below.